


Listen

by BonneyQ



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 07:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonneyQ/pseuds/BonneyQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those are her last words and all she wants is for him to listen</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listen

‘You have six hours, Miss Hooper. After that, you’ll have six minutes to talk to him. Don’t try to scream; don’t try to break the cuffs. Like Mr. Holmes says: the game is on.’  
  
That was what a mechanical voice told her when she finally woke up, with her hands cuffed behind her back and onto the floor, something like a collar and a heavy vest – which contained explosives, as she could see with the little light she had coming from a lamp on the ceiling (it wasn’t much help, but it was better than nothing.  
  
In front of her, there was a chair with a laptop – the screen showed the countdown of the six hours the mechanical voice said.  
  
The pathologist knew who it was, the man who pretended to be Jim Moriarty for the past four months, leaving all of UK worried with the random attacks, all the dead ends to find his identity. There was only one thing Molly Hooper knew: that man was not Jim Moriarty; Sherlock told her not to worry that it might be him.  
  
And, as always, she believed in him with all her heart.  
  
During the six hours she had to cope with the fact that she was trapped and would most likely die, she cried, denied it, accepted and thought about her life. Of course she had regrets – everyone had – but in all, her life was good enough.  
  
Of course, she had time to think about what she was going to tell him; and there was only one him her kidnapper would have her talk to: Sherlock Holmes.  
  
#  
  
When the timer on the laptop was over, Molly knew that her time also approached the end and after a few seconds, she saw the tiny green light by the side of the webcam lit up and a moment later, the face of the Consultant Detective appear on her screen, with a new timer underneath it.  
  
00:06:00.  
  
She only had six minutes.  
  
“Sherlock.” Molly almost laughed in relief of being right and have the last opportunity of talking to him.  
  
“Molly? What…?” He was confused for a moment, after his eyes unfocused for a moment, just like they always were when a deduction took him by surprise. “Of course. He said he would have a gift for me, something I would like to have back.”  
  
“Oh, dear god. Is that Molly?” The pathologist heard Doctor John Watson’s voice and a second later, his face appeared on her screen, as he pushed Sherlock away. “Molly, are you okay?”  
  
“Of course she’s not okay, John.” Sherlock’s voice was annoyed and Molly could detect a little bit of anger. “She was drugged, kidnapped and is currently with a shock collar – which means she can’t raise her voice to call for help without receiving an electrical discharged –, she is also wearing a vest with explosives – you wore one just like that, John, don’t you remember? Plus, her wrists are currently cuffed behind her back and to the ground. She has been crying and rethinking about all her life choices, just as one does when one thinks they’re going to die.” The man got up from his chair and disappeared from Molly’s screen. “Ridiculous, of course.”  
  
Molly wished she could still look at his face – his stupid beautiful face – during her last few minutes. “Sherlock… this is the timer for the bomb to go off.”  
  
“I know.” She heard his voice and then John told him something, in which the detective yelled. “I know, John!”  
  
“You can’t be here in five minutes.” The pathologist tried to reason with him one more time and said man appeared back on the screen once more.  
  
“I will find a way. I will solve this and …”  
  
The woman shook her head; she knew better. “No, Sherlock, listen to me.”  
  
“I am missing something.” He looked down, like she knew he did when he tried to notice what he missed.  
  
“Sherlock.” Molly tried to call him with a stronger voice, but couldn’t without setting the collar on (she tried it once, just to receive a discharge which made her dizzy).  
  
“What am I missing, John?” Sherlock looked away from the webcam, to the direction Molly assumed the Doctor was. “Mycroft: you too, think!”  
  
“Sherlock!”  
  
After a moment, Molly heard John sigh and then talk in a sad tone. “Listen to her, Sherlock.”  
  
“She has no idea of where she is, plus, whoever captured her made sure she couldn’t identify her whereabouts, otherwise he wouldn’t let us talk; which means that nothing she can tell me now can help me find her.”  
  
“I don’t think she wants to give you clues, mate.” Trust John to see in her eyes that she accepted her fate (probably because he accepted his, just like she did).  
  
Another known voice. Mycroft Holmes. “Listen to her, brother.”  
  
With a sigh of annoyance, Sherlock returned to his place in front of the laptop, and stared at the webcam. “What is it, Molly?”  
  
The pathologist took a deep breath and then looked to the timer. 00:04:23. “I need you to listen to me, Sherlock. Don’t tune it down: listen. Are you listening?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Good.” Those were her last minutes; she wasn’t going to waste them. “You are amazing, Sherlock. Your mind is a gift. Do you realize how many people would kill to have half of your intelligence? You see the world in a way a few people can; and we – me, John, Greg, Mrs Hudson and now Mary – see you working and it’s such a wonder, Sherlock Holmes. You are a wonder.”  
  
“Not a word people usually connect with me.” He raised his chin.  
  
“Only the ones who can see you know about it.” Molly smiled while a few tears escaped her eyes.  
  
“You could always see me.” Sherlock almost whispered and John had the impression that the sentence meant much more to them than they were letting on.  
  
“And it was my privilege to see you – all of you. All the sides of you that I saw, no exceptions. Even when you were an arsehole, you git.” She chuckled sadly.  
  
“Why?” The Consultant Detective frowned.  
  
00:03:37  
  
She smiled softly. “You know why, Sherlock. You always knew.”  
  
Sherlock shook his head lightly. “I never understood it, Molly. You could have anyone, but you chose the only one who could never love you back.”  
  
“You can’t choose, Sherlock. This is just one of those things we have no control over.” The Pathologist shrugged the best she could.  
  
“I’m a sociopath.” The man said.  
  
“Highly functional.” Molly pointed out, just like Sherlock did when people called him anything else than his self-appointed condition. “And why shouldn’t I care for you even so? Everyone deserves to be loved and sometimes the love isn’t reciprocated, but it doesn’t make it any less real.”  
  
“I don’t understand why we are talking about this now. I’m supposed to find you.” The woman could see him getting more and more restless with each second that passed.  
  
“Because you are not going to find me alive.” Molly said with kindness. “This time you can’t pull something out from your sleeve and you can’t smart your way out of it and you know that. John and Mycroft know it too.” She said softly and calm. “I need you to understand that this is not your fault, Sherlock. I’d rather die right now as your friend than never to meet you and live until I was eighty. I do not hold this against you and this is my choice. I will not ask you to save me, because when this bomb goes off, you’ll beat yourself up over it, you’ll get frustrated. I think this is the first time a friend of yours will die this way and I’m glad it was me. Start from the bottom of the list.” She tried to joke.  
  
“You are not at the bottom of the list, Molly. I told you that night that…” Sherlock spoke sternly.  
  
“Please, don’t say another word.” She cried and more tears fell on her cheeks, thicker. “Please don’t make me want to live. Let these last minutes be about me helping you.”  
  
00:02:22  
  
“Molly… I don’t know what to say to you.” The Pathologist could see in his eyes the frustration, and trouble and she knew he was feeling hopeless (and he hated to feel not in control).  
  
“Finally speechless, huh?”  
  
“This is not a joking matter, Molly.” Sherlock snarled at her, his hands traveled to his hair. “I don’t know how to find you, that bastard made sure of it... I want to, but I don’t know how.”  
  
“And I told you that it’s alright, Sherlock. I accepted it.”  
  
Sherlock stared at the screen; his beautiful eyes were grey, like they always were when he was troubled. “I am sorry, Molly.”  
  
“I know you are.” She offered him a watery smile. “I want you to promise something, though.” He waited. “Promise me you will keep going after the bad guys for the right reasons, not for revenge but to help people. You’ll keep doing it because it’s right.”  
  
“I promise.” He said a little too fast.  
  
“Liar.” She chuckled, after a moment, she called: “John?”  
  
A few seconds later, the Doctor appeared in the screen. “Yes, Molly?”  
  
“I… I have a dog. His name is Gladstone and he’s sweet, loyal. Could you find him a home?” The woman asked.  
  
John nodded in agreement. “Yes, of course.”  
  
“Send Mary and Rosie my love.”  
  
“I will.”  
  
“And keep an eye on him, will you? Keep him out of trouble?” Molly tried her best to look strong, but she guessed he could see through her.  
  
“I couldn’t even if I cuffed him eternally. But yeah, I’ll keep an eye on him.” John smiled softly.  
  
“Thank you.” She sighed in relief, and then called the other man. “Sherlock?”  
  
“Yes?” His face appeared on the screen as John stepped away from the webcam.  
  
00:45:00  
  
“Try to be nicer; to let people in, you will be surprised of how many friends you can have if you just let them know you. Be yourself, of course, but be a bit nicer. It’s alright to be different, but it’s not alright to be a jerk about it. Plus, no drugs, please, not even for a case.” The timer approached to thirty seconds. “You will be alright, Sherlock Holmes. Just don’t be alone.”  
  
“No.” The Consultant Detective grabbed his laptop, she could see his troubled expression, his pain and she wished to hug him, to tell him everything was going to be okay, but she knew he would struggle for a while after she was gone, but he would be fine. He would always be fine, because that was who Sherlock Holmes was.  
  
“Remember that I’ve always loved you. I still do. Good bye, Sherlock.”  
  
The men saw the clock reach 00:00:00 just as Molly closed her eyes, tears falling down on her cheeks (Molly Hooper accepted her death, she had a nice life she fell in love with wonderful man and she helped save his life once. What else could she ask for?), and the camera was offline at the same time as Sherlock yelled her name.  
  
‘Good bye, Sherlock Holmes.’ Was her last thought before darkness surrounded her. ‘I love you’

**Author's Note:**

> I hate myself for writing Molly's death.


End file.
